Syntheism
= book, and concept
URL = http://syntheism.org/
The Book
* Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist. Syntheism - Creating God in the Internet Age. Stockholm Text, 2014
URL =
"the first book to actively use the term Syntheism in its title"
Interview
Conducted by Petter Wallenberg, excerpt:
* How do Syntheists reflect upon death?
"When we die, we simply return to the state we were before we were born. Life is best described as a tiny fluctuation in the big course of events which we can call history or the Universe. Syntheism is unlike both old religions and humanism, a universocentric and not an antropocentric religion. It does not emanate from the individual human being but from the Universe as a whole because the Universe and God, according to Syntheism, are one and the same thing. We humans are subordinate universes. There is something much greater than ourselves in which we are included. We are each and every one of us as dividuals (rather than individuals) an expression of the Universe’s enormous creativity. It is in this understanding and not in any competition against each other, we obtain our syntheistic self-esteem."
(https://theforumist.com/Alexander-bard-on-syntheism/)
The Concept
1.
"" Syntheism arises from the 21st century atheist’s search for spiritual empowerment and his desire to connect more deeply and meaningfully with his fellow human beings, and the term Syntheos is an expression of the need to belong: the Greek “syn-” means “with”, “together”. Syntheism is sometimes called the religion of spiritual atheism. Spirituality is commonly associated with the search for the sacred, whereas atheism is in fact the disbelief in certain specific gods. Syntheists understand religion as a social and communal practice and as the process-oriented alternative to the goal-oriented social discourse which maneuvers people into frustration-inducing, Sisyphean activities that only limit their creative potential."
2. From the Wikipedia:
"Syntheism is a new religious movement that is focused on how atheists and pantheists can achieve the same feelings of community and awe experienced in traditional theistic religions.The Syntheist Movement sees itself as the practical realisation of a philosophical ambition for a new religion dating back as far as Baruch Spinoza's pantheism in the 17th century and, most directly, British-American philosopher Alfred North Whitehead's pioneering work towards a process theology in his books Religion in the Making in 1926 and Process and Reality in 1929.
Syntheism may also be viewed as a response to the lack of atheistic and pantheistic belief systems in Western cultures, while being more abundant in Eastern cultures, for example as Zen Buddhism, Dzogchen Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, and Jainism.
Syntheism was coined from the Greek syntheos (from syn- for with or creating with and -theos for god). It implies that the proper approach to the concept of God is that humanity has created, creates or will eventually create God – as opposed to the traditional monotheistic view that God created the world and humanity."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntheism)
Characteristics
Beliefs, from the Wikipedia:
"Syntheism is the belief that the classic division between theism and atheism in theology has become redundant and must be overcome to fulfill contemporary and future spiritual needs. This requires the acknowledgement that all metaphysical beliefs center on a divinity or focal point which is man-made. Therefore, all current and future religious beliefs are created by humans, as well as systems such as Individualism developed by philosophers like René Descartes and Immanuel Kant).[13]
Despite being human creations, what is important is that these beliefs strengthen, and not contradict, science. They must therefore be developed within a monist worldview (the conviction that there is one world and one world only, and that everything within this one world can affect everything else). In a more poetic vein, Bataille describes his atheology as “the art of non-knowledge”. He rather advocates a syntheist religion without a core set of beliefs.[1] Participatory festivals with utopian themes such as Burning Man are considered examples of syntheistic practice."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntheism)